The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1

by Rachel Ronning

  Chapter 19

  What no one at the school knew was that Althric had a little stone that could sense power levels. It was not an extremely specific device, but it was accurate enough to point out which students had more or less raw power. If the student had below average power for the people in the room, it was cold. Average, nothing, and if the student was above average, the stone was hot. He had held it in his hand while he had been meeting people, and when he met Lucy it had almost burned his hand. Many others made the stone warm, but her looks intrigued him as well. He was also sure she had no desire to come with him and would most likely turn him down if he asked. Some of the other women he might be able to woo or romance into coming with him. Lucy also didn’t seem like the kind of girl who had queenly aspirations so that wasn’t an inducement either. Thus, Althric and his contingent were wandering around the school at night using the stone to try to find Lucy’s room. When it burnt Althric’s hand, they tried the door and found it locked. Well, thought Althric, he could always try asking her.

  Lucy awoke to light knocking on her door.

  “Who’s there?” she asked groggily. She had been having a pleasantly dreamless sleep.

  “Althric.”

  “What do you want?” asked Lucy, curious and slightly worried at the same time. What was he doing knocking at her door this late at night, and how did he know which door was hers?

  “I want to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “Please open the door.”

  “Why don’t we talk in the morning?” asked Lucy. Preferably with witnesses…and perhaps an armed guard. Lucy was becoming increasingly nervous.

  “I’d rather talk to you now,” said Althric, beginning to lose his patience. He was a ruler not some servant. He was used to getting everything he wanted when he wanted it, and he felt she had no business making him wait in the hallway and talk through a door.

  “Please, tomorrow,” said Lucy, wondering at his insistence that they talk now and dreading his motives.

  “No now. Open the door.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No, we can talk tomorrow,” said Lucy, sure now that the last thing she wanted to do was open the door.

  “Open the door!” Althric practically shouted, and he began pounding on it.

  “No,” said Lucy beginning to get worried.

  “Open the door, or we’ll break it down,” he warned. Then, he and one of the larger men on the counsil began to ram their bodies against the door.

  The noise was so loud, and Lucy was scared. How strong was the door? What would happen if it broke? The bodies rammed into the door again. Could anyone else hear what was going on? The bodies rammed faster, and it sounded like a third man was adding his weight. Would anyone come if she screamed? Would anyone hear her if she screamed? She wished she had taken the time to meet whoever was in the rooms on either side of her. What could she do? Could she brace the door with her bed? Could she move her bed? Of course she could move her bed. They kept pounding on the door, louder and louder.

  “STOP!” screamed Lucy tears of fear and frustration starting to run down her face.

  And everything did. She took a step towards the door. She could not hear anything on the other side. Was the pounding going to start again? She wondered if they were trying to trick her into opening the door. She couldn’t do that she decided. They were waiting for her, and she had no idea how many of them there were or even what they wanted. Then she thought of something. She could talk to Ash with her mind. Justin could talk to animals too, she thought. Perhaps, she could talk to Justin. She had never thought to try before. She had never needed to before. She was not sure how loud she had to think so she thought she would be thorough.

  “Justin!” she screamed in her head as loud as she could, “HELP!”

  Justin was startled awake by the sound of his name screaming in his head. What was going on? Then he heard the word help and recognized Lucy’s voice. He didn’t bother to think; he jumped out of bed, grabbed some pants, and ran out of his room. He ran up the stairs three at a time. He reached the hallway the same time Eric did who had also been awakened by Lucy’s mental cry for help. Eric and Justin looked at each other and then at the scene that greeted them in the hallway.

  There was Althric and three men frozen in mid air while ramming their bodies against Lucy’s door. Behind them was the rest of Althric’s council, also frozen, and it should be noted, not one of them appeared to be trying to hold Althric back.

  Justin and Eric moved through the frozen men to Lucy’s door.

  “Lucy?” Justin said softly.

  “Justin?”

  “Yes, it’s me, and Eric is with me.”

  “Are they still there?”

  “Yes, but you seem to have frozen them. It’s ok to open the door.”

  Lucy did and took a step back in fright at the rage frozen on Althric’s face. Lucy explained what had happened. Eric nodded and levitated the men, still frozen, to go see Quinn, letting them know he would be back shortly. Now that the immediate threat was over, the adrenaline and relief kicked in, and Lucy began to shake and cry. Justin simply put his arms around her and held her while she cried. He was warm and strong and safe.

  “Just for future reference, they would not have been able to come in. They could have pounded until they broke their hands, but the door would have held. The doors are magical of course, and someone can only come in if they are invited.”

  “That’s good to know, but it was still scary.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Lucy calmed down, and Justin stayed with her. Lucy had the presence of mind to notice that Justin looked very good without a shirt, but she did not comment on it. Eric came back.

  “Are you ok?” he asked Lucy.

  “Yes, what happened to them?”

  “Quinn and I discussed it. Quinn was in favor of sending them back as they were to see how long your spell kept them frozen. I was in favor of chucking them out the window to see if they would shatter when they hit the ground. However, it is never good to anger or mortally offend rulers of nations no matter how evil they are, so we found a more diplomatic solution. We will modify their memories. They will not remember ever seeing Lucy. Then, we will put them to bed. We will let all the students know what has happened but to keep it quiet when around Althric. If any of the women want to be his wife after this, there is nothing we can do, but I don’t think that will be an issue. He is supposed to leave tomorrow afternoon. I think it would be best if you stay in your room until he is gone. If he sees you, he may or may not remember, but it might set in motion similar events. I’ll let your professors know what is going on, and I’ll have some books sent up for you to study. Does this sound ok to you?”

  “Yes,” said Lucy, “although, it would have been fun to watch them shatter.”

  Eric smiled at her and left. Justin added that he would bring her breakfast and lunch. Althric might remember Maya and wonder where she was going with food. On the other hand, he would probably not pay any attention to Justin.

  “Are you going to be ok?”

  Lucy nodded, and he left. Lucy lay back down in bed, but it was a long time before she fell asleep.

  Chapter 20

  Lucy awoke the next morning to Justin’s light knock on the door bringing her breakfast. He opened his bag and brought out an apple, a cinnamon bun that he had carefully wrapped in a napkin, and a blueberry muffin.

  “I hope this will do,” said Justin doubtfully. “You would not believe how many of the breakfast items they serve are untransportable. Then it occurred to me that I didn’t even know what kind of muffins you liked.”

  “This will be perfect. Thank you,” Lucy interrupted him. She did not need to hear him apologize for bringing her breakfast. “Besides, it’s not like I’ll be doing anything more strenuous than sitting in my room for most of the day. I’m not likely to need that much food.”

  He smiled. “I also brought you
another book on Kinowenn and the next book on spells.”

  “Thanks. It will give me something to read.”

  “Read only though, I would advise. I’ll come back with food for lunch, and we can try some of the spells if you like, but you know how they feel about trying unassigned spells on your own.”

  “I promise to behave. Too many crazy things have happened for me to ignore the voice of caution.”

  “How do you feel this morning?” Justin had been putting off asking the question, but he was concerned. Also, it was best not to hide from feelings or brood on them.

  “I’m good. Last night was scary, but now that I know the door is magic it helps. Besides, I don’t ever have to see Althric again, and that’s comforting. How is it going in the school? Does everyone know? Honestly, I feel slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. I really don’t want everyone staring at me. I hate being the center of attention.”

  “Eric and Quinn arranged it so that everyone had a note appear on the inside of their door so they could not leave the room without missing it. It looks like you have one too.”

  Justin went to her door and took the piece of paper down.

  Good morning Lucy. I thought you would want to see a copy of what the other students have. I hope you are feeling ok this morning. Feel free to knock on my door at any time if you need to talk. ~Eric

  Attention students: An event occurred last night that I feel you ought to be informed about. Althric and his counsil attempted to break into one of the rooms of a female student. We modified his memory so he knows nothing of this. We plan to send him home at the regular time this afternoon. We hope you will be polite to them, but we strongly advise all female students to turn down any offers he may give any of you. Please watch out for each other today and inform me immediately if anything seems amiss. Have a good day.

  ~Eric

  “As you can see, he left your name out of it so not everyone knows. When you did not come down right away, Maya guessed. Gavin was so busy shoveling down pancakes that I doubt he would have come to that conclusion on his own. However, he was irate on your behalf and wanted to pound Althric until he felt better. I’m not sure how long that would take,” he added almost as an afterthought.

  “Well, at least the whole school does not know,” said Lucy, somewhat relieved. “I wonder if they ever learned why he chose to come after me.”

  “Perhaps you should make it a point to see Eric today and find out,” suggested Justin.

  “I probably should.” Then, because she had been wondering about something since last night she thought, “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course,” responded Justin out loud, not realizing he had heard the voice in his head and that she hadn’t said it out loud.

  “I think you just answered it,” Lucy said with a smile.

  Justin looked confused for a minute and then figured out what had happened. He grinned.

  “I was wondering when you would put two and two together and figure out that if we could both talk to animals, we might be able to talk to each other like that. I do wish it had been under better circumstances though.”

  “Me too,” Lucy agreed. “I suppose Eric has a similar talent and that’s why he heard even though I was directing my thoughts at you.”

  “Yes and no. Eric does have a similar talent. Talking with your voice or with your mind sends certain vibrations through the air. If you talk to me with your voice at a normal volume, someone 10 feet away probably won’t hear. If you shout someone 20 feet away will probably hear. The same thing applies. You shouted for help so loudly, I’m not surprised Eric showed up.”

  “That makes sense. I wasn’t sure it would even work or how loud to be, and I was scared. I decided I’d rather be too loud than not loud enough. Besides, I figured I might have to wake you up and wasn’t sure how sound of a sleeper you were.”

  Justin laughed. “I’m a pretty sound sleeper, but I tend to hear someone calling in my head. You were so loud I almost fell out of bed. I definitely knew something was wrong. I’m sorry, but as long as you are ok, I should really go to class.”

  “Have fun at class.”

  “I will. I’ll bring you lunch,” he said and left with a smile.

  Lucy ate her muffin while she paged through the new spell book Justin had brought in for her. Even if she was not supposed to try the spells yet, an introduction to what she would have to try soon was always good. Besides, if she wanted to work on a spell, she could always work on the voice versions of the ones in her previous book. She was still weak where voice was concerned. Some people might think that didn’t matter, but Lucy was a perfectionist, and she obviously had the time today to work on those things.

  After giving her book the verbal commands to skip across the room, do somersaults, climb the wall, shrink and grow, spin like a top, and balance on her finger, she decided she’d had enough of that.

  She opened the book on Kinowenn and studied the map in the front some more. Lucy figured, it could only help to be acquainted with any land she was sent to and looked at the map until she could close her eyes and still see it. She decided that every night before bed, she should visualize that map. She knew it was not the same thing as being there, but she was directionally impaired in her old life, and she was not going to let it become a detriment here.

  Lucy mused on that for a minute. Old life versus new life. She did wonder what her family was up to. She even missed them a lot, but she would not give up this experience to go back there. Despite all that had happened, Lucy felt like this was where she was supposed to be. This was the happiest she had been in years, she reaffirmed. There was nothing like going for a horseback ride on a sunny afternoon and talking to the horse.

  Lucy pulled open her book on healing and read through the magical ways to heal. Reading about non-magical ways didn’t interest her as much. The idea of stitching through someone else’s skin to close a wound gave her the shivers, but she supposed they would learn that here as well. She wondered if she would ever be as good Justin was. Probably not, she decided. Everyone seemed to have specific talents. She could shoot fire out of her hands. Somehow, being able to do something so destructive did not mesh in her mind with being able to heal. About the time she was ready to go stir crazy, Justin appeared with lunch.

  “I brought you meat, cheeses, and bread to make a sandwich, a banana, some carrots, and some chocolate cookies. I may not notice what kind of muffin you like to eat, but I know you never skip dessert at lunch,” he said with a smile.

  “Too true,” she agreed and took one of the cookies to eat first before she started on the healthier stuff. “How was your morning?”

  “Good, I was with Nerek looking after a turtle that hops about like a rabbit. You?”

  “Ok, but I’m getting a little tired of reading. I’ve already gotten used to being active and going to classes and such.”

  “It’s good that you are used to being active. Sorry you are getting kind of bored. Eric said I could escort you to his room for a chat when you were done with lunch. If you are interested, that is.”

  In response, Lucy hurriedly took a large bite of her sandwich and nodded.

  “Darren figured it out too, when you weren’t in class. He offered to come see you, but I thought Althric might notice something was odd if students were sneaking off during lunch. Also, I wasn’t sure how you would feel about more company or having him in your room for that matter.”

  “You’re in my room,” Lucy pointed out. She guessed what he was getting at but couldn’t avoid teasing him a little.

  “Yes, but he’s a guy.”

  “And you are…?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

  “I know I’m a guy, but I’ve been here before…and after last night…”

  “Oh, you mean the fact that you were here with your shirt off? Are you jealous?”

  “What? No! This has nothing to do with anything like that,” he sounded flustered. “A guy tried to break into your room. I wasn’
t sure how you would feel if a guy who hadn’t been to your room before asked to come in.”

  “How do you know he’s never been in my room?”

  “I was…I thought…I was trying to…I don’t know…has he? ...Oh never mind.”

  “I know, I know, I’m just teasing you,” said Lucy laughing. “I understand you were concerned for my wellbeing.”

  Justin was glad she understood what he had been trying to do and had not been offended. Really he had no business telling someone not to come to her room. That was her right, not his. Then he decided to tease back a little.

  “Hmmm, so you noticed I didn’t have a shirt on?”

  Lucy winked at him and stuffed the rest of the sandwich in her mouth. Both of them silently agreed to let the matter drop.

  “Darren also told me to pass on the intro to healing reading. It was pages 121-156 I believe.”

  “I read that already,” said Lucy around the sandwich.

  “I figured as much.”

  Lucy peeled the banana and took a bite.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat this fast.”

  “I want to make sure we have time to get me out of here and to Eric’s before you are late for class.” She took another bite. “Thank goodness Althric’s leaving today. I couldn’t stand being cooped up in here for too long.” Another bite. “Besides Eric might have some answers.” She swallowed the last bite of banana, grabbed the other cookie, and stood up. “I can eat a cookie and walk at the same time. Let’s go.”